Felony counts doing everything he can to get the case against him then out of courts. There are big developments in beth of those stories, and were going to get to all of them this hour. But if theres one person that embodies the dual crysies facing the gop right now, the dual crises of chaos and Lul Criminality it is this guy, congressman George Santos, a Serial Fabulist who remains in the house despite being charged with 13 counts of fraud, Money Lawderring and theft. That staffer admitted to having made up Fake Campaign donations for Santos Campaign and that Conspiracy Charge is part of the broader case against her boss, George Santos, whos been accused of crimes from defrauding voters to falsifying official paperwork to lying to the government in order to get pandemic aid. So the fact this san toegs Campaign Official is now admitting to that ledge scheme that is bad news for congressman santos. And yet he remains in Good Standing with the house. I mean if anything George Santos is at the height of his power in this congress because for the second time in less than a year republicans need George Santos, and they need his vote in particular to stem the chaos in their caucus. Whoever the next republican speaker is, that person is going to have to court the likes of George Santos at the same moment that his former staffer is striking a plea deal with federal prosecutors. The gop is so fractured that it governs itself on a knifes edge. As to who can actually corral this republican mess into something resembling a governing majority that is anyones guess at this point. Today we learned donald trump is considering a visit to the u. S. Capitol early next week right in the middle of the republican race for speaker. It will be the first time trump has visited the capitol since january 6, 2021. A lot has changed and a lot hasnt. Trump claims hes making the visit because he wants to help unify the party, which hes openly using they require him to become speaker himself. Trump told fox news digital they have asked me if i would take it it being the speakership for a short period of time for the party until they come to a conclusion. Im not doing it because i want to. I will do it if necessary should they not be able to make their decision. As preposterous as this sounds, as much as trump being at the capitol should be a glaring reminder of what happened the last time he was there, republican lawmakers have been cheering trump on. This is congresswoman Marjorie Taylor greene tweeting today if trump becomes speaker of the house itll be a trump rally every single day. We already saw what happened when it became a trump rally. Smashed through windows and barricades and chanted hang mike pence. Thats what it looks like. Kevin mccarthys failure as speaker was in large part due to his courtship of the maga base, his deference to the hard right. And in the wake of that spectacular failure, the Republican Party is courting the head of the Maga Movement . Theyre inviting the january 6th guy back into the building . I mean anybody looking for Course Correction here, it looks like its going to be a long wait. Nbc news asked republican primary voters what they thought of Kevin Mccarthys ouster, and boy, did they make it clear Kevin Mccarthy wasnt radical enough. He caved in sending more money over to ukraine, so basically he seems like a typical political crook. You cant be siding with these liberal policies. You just cant. We have to stand up to that, otherwise were going to lose our country. He was, you know, working a bit too cozy with the democrats and im all for him being voted out. A bit too cozy with the democrats . How and where did Kevin Mccarthy, the person who launched an Impeachment Inquiry into President Biden and blamed a Near Government shutdown on democrats, how did Kevin Mccarthy become somehow a tool of the left . Heres a clue. The morning after ousting mccarthy congressman matt gaetz walked a few blocks down from the capitol to the basement Recording Studio that belongs to steve bannon to claim victory and to rally support from the Maga Movement. Well, first i want to say the posse won and the posse was attacked last night. What theyre trying to say is theyre afraid of your collective agency. They are worried that your ability to act as a force in American Politics can become more important than the big Steak Dinners and the Lobbyist Fund Raisers and the favors that are traded back and forth. That is the Republican Party that donald trump is returning to, one that is mired in dysfunction and anger and chaos and paranoia. And it is clear now that the threat is inside the building. They have breached the capitol in more ways than one. Joining me now is tim miller, former Communications Director for the 2016 Jeb Bush Campaign and writer at large for the bulwark, and charlie psyches, also cohost at the bulwark and author of how the right lost its mind. Thank you, gentlemen, for joining me tonight. What do you make of trump positioning himself as a, quote, unifying figure need in the house in. Obviously weve not reached peak political crazy here. What an alignment of the stars, the man who incited the attack on the capitol returning to the capitol to see his handiwork, to see how actually ungovernable it has been. The republicans are faced with an uninveeable problem, trying to figure out how to govern in this particular environment with the jackal caucus, with donald trump looming all over this is really a kind of political rubix cube for morons. Theres no solution, no way theyre going to come out of this more sane or rational or getting back to more normalcy, so this is what theyre bringing to 2024. Youre absolutely right. Anyone who thinks were going to see some sort of return to normal American Politics, that is just not going to happen, and next week is going to be its going to be wild even by the standards of the last few years. Youre right, be there will be wild part 2, tim. What do you think the presence of trump at the capitol does to the speakers race . On the one hand youd think itd be a very helpful reminder when you give power to trump and trumpism, and on the other hand, i think its going to its like is it rasputin . He conjures this spell that the party seems to fall under, and i wonder if it informs who they ultimately pick for speaker assuming its not donald trump . I think its reasserting dominance. Theres a lot of areas in his life hes lost control right now, multiple courtrooms across the country but he still very much has control over the Republican Party. And i think showing up is an opportunity for him to demonstrate that in the most visible way possible. And i think that hes right about the fact he would be able to put his thumb on the scale and probably not be speaker himself but support whoever it is jim jordan or whatever from the Maga Jackal Caucus as charlie called it. And it recalls for me, alex, i feel like a broken record, but you remember that old quote after the election whats the down side for humoring him for this little bit of time . For some reason these republicans, the Kevin Mccarthy, The Old GuardEstablishment Republicans thought they could make this deal with the devil and when he lost in 2020 hed go away and theyd get to mub on with their lives. But thats not how deals with the devil work. And donald trump is once again just like he did on january 6th, just like he did endorsing all those lunatics in 2022 and do it one more time when he goes to the capitol next week, hes saying youve got to pay up and hes going to threto accept his payment. I do wonder, charlie, whether the sort of poison goes deeper than just deal making. The New York Times is out with a piece about how steve bannon in many ways helped orchestrate the ouster of Kevin Mccarthy by effectively poisoning the well, poisoning the posse, which is to say the rightwing and the rightwing not just in congress but voters and listeners on Steve BannonsPodcast Poisoning them on mccarthy who he deemed as a sort of establishment rino, student to the democratic party. In other seasons one might say who cares what steve bannon is doing. Ill read you an excerpt. In past decades rightwing rebels on capitol hill have encountered trouble getting real traction. Shunned by lobbyists and Political Action committee, excluded by Leadership Seats in the capitol, and disregarded by fox news. But with the help of mr. Bannon who streams live four hours every weekday mr. Gaetz and others dont need to rely on any of that. They can find their money by spewing nonsense on the bannon air waves, and they have an audience and they have attention, and thats all they need. What do you think about that . Thats exactly right. Tims written a whole book about this. The water was poisoned a long time ago over the last five or six years. You have this vast ecosystem that thrived on stirring up outrage, convincing the base that they need to be angry, that theyre being betrayed, that somebody is not being loyal enough, and they keep ratcheting it up. What bannon represents is one aspect of all this. And ultimately this is a Leadership Problem and its also a followership problem. As you illustrated earlier there are a lot of people out there in the primary electorate who had no problem with this kind of chaos and this kind of dysfunction, and donald trump feeds on this as well, and thats the problem that the majority of House Republicans have to deal with is if they want to elect somebody whos not completely crazy. If they want to elect somebody who is not a complete lunatic, theyre going to have to deal with this not just the members of the s but this entire ecosystem devoted to passing out meth on outrage on a daily basis and donald trump wholl insist on this sort of thing. I agree with tim this is an assertion of dominance, but it really is in many ways the worst night mare for House Republicans, and it is the fondest wish of democrats and the Biden Campaign to basically trumpify the entire Republican Party and make it absolutely clear that donald trump owns all of this chaos and this dysfunction and corruption. And thank you for pointing out the sort of role that the republican electorate has in this. And tim, id love to talk with you more about that because the Incentive Structure is all messed up. I mean it feels like the republican electorate not only wants the chaos but expects the chaos. When the chaos unfolds its not a source of shame or indignation. Theyre either like more of that or what else is new. So jim jordan as speaker seems entirely plausible to that group of people. Oh, for sure. This is the thing a lot of folks i think on the coast miss with whats happening with the Republican Party. Theres been that old trope Republican Party is like i like trump but not his tweets. Theres a big group of the Republican Base maybe not a majority but close to it 45 of the party there for the chaos, there for the tweets, there for the cruelty. They like this stuff. You might think the Republican Party cant for many viewers theyre like, no, good, we want to tear this whole thing down. So that makes things very challenging for republicans who want to do the right thing. Theres a dwindling number of them, but i think many of people feel trapped by their own voters. What do you think the applications are for the speakers race . Do you think its a forgone conclusion its going to be someone in the radical wing of the partys base . This is the dilemma. In order to get 218 votes you either have to get the votes of the matt gaetz jackal caucus. In order to get the matt gaetz caucus youre going to have to continue to do what Kevin Mccarthy did which is make one surrender, one concession after another to the taliban wing of the party. And in order to get democratic votes youre going to have to strike some sort of Grand Bargain that would absolutely outrage the rightwing base and the bannons of the world and donald trump. So the question is how do you get to 218 votes . And the conventional wisdom would suggest its going to be someone like a steve scalise, but who knows . My only prediction is strap in, break out the popcorn because its going to be long, its going to be ugly. Thats not Popcorn Eating Footage for me. I just want to put all food aside watching the degradation of our twoparty system. The jackal caucus, someone put that on a mug please somewhere. Tim miller and charlie sykes, great to have you on the program. We have lots to talk about this evening like a victory. Yes, a victory for representational democracy as a republican effort to keep democrats out of power in alabama fails and just in time for next years election. Plus donald trump may have retreated to his Florida Beach club, but huz lawyers are keeping busy working to keep trump out of multiple court cases while he is running for president. That is next. E he is running fo president. That is next the virus that causes shingles is sleeping. In 99 of people over 50. Its lying dormant, waiting. And could reactivate. 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You cleared up decades of frustration in a second. Order now and well ship your pair of fda registered hearing aids in your choice of style with incredible savings. Pay as low as only 29 a month you get a 45day money back guarantee, free 24 7 us based support, a portable charging case, and Free Shipping. With rca, you can be hearing better in just days order yours now call this number or go to rcahearingaids. Com now in new york today it was day four of Donald TrumpsCivil Fraud Trial and for the first time the former president was not in the courtroom to watch or to mutter under his breath. Instead he was at home in florida doing trump stuff. But it appears that trumps lawyers are working overtime doing everything they can to postpone or dismiss four out of their clients five pending legal cases. The new york civil fraud case trumps Team Announced that tomorrow theyll be requesting a stay pending appeal. Exactly what part of the trial they want to put on pause is still anyones guess, but we should know by tomorrow. Another set of trumps lawyers filed a mission to dismiss the 3457b hatten d. A. s criminal hush money case against trump calling it politically motivated and marred by legal defects. In the case involving the storage of classified documents at maralago, today the they asked the judge citing many other charges and the possibility of them being in two places at once. And then in the other criminal case in the efforts to overthrow the 2020 election trumps lawyers are trying to get that case dismissed altogether. They siz efforts to subvert democracy are efforts to ensure Election Integrity and are therefore protected under election validity. Joyce, thank you for being here. I am not a lawyer, which i say every hour of this program, but i did read highlights from this argument trumps lawyers were making and found myself chuckling. I wonder what you thought about the asorgz that trump has absolute immunity in jack smith, in his federal election case, because the actions trump took in and around the election were within the outer perimeter of his presidency, and his actions to overturn the election were at the heart of his official responsibilities as president. What do you make of that . Right, so, alex, i think theyre making the argument they have to make here because obviously stealing an election does not fall within a president s core duties, so they crafted this argument using sterile language to describe the allegations against trump. In term of representing it in terms of It Conspiracies to defraud the united states, to obstruct the official proceeding, to deprive people of their civil rights they say, oh, trump was just having conversations with State Officials and with his Vice President and this was very normal sorts of conduct. That argument i think defies common sense and is not an argument that will succeed in front of judge chutkan, but thats nut the goal here. Trumps lawyers are trying to setup an appeal possibly before trial, if they can persuade the courts itsimatored. This partially a delay game, partially a game in front of the Supreme Court of getting them to buy in this expansion of president ial power and president ial immunity. What do you think of the chances on that front given the current Supreme Court . Im not sure if people know this but Clarence Thomas this week recused himself from a Supreme Court decision not to take up a case involving the january 6th committee getting access to John Eastmans emails, john eastman famously the lawyer that hatched the plot to overturn the election results. Does that sig nal anything to you at all about how these justices are thinking about the efforts and in around the 2020 elections . So im not holding my breath to see Justice Thomas begin to recuse wholesale from cases where he might have what people might perceive is a conflict of interest. Eastman is one of his former law clerks. That was too direct of a conflict for this court to stomach, but i think looking at this issue about president ial immunity and the larger context of some conservative jurisprudence that has focused on expanding the range of president ial power, perhaps theres a way that Trump Lawyers like chris kise believe they can make it palatable to the Supreme Court. You might remember, alex, when bill barr was auditioning himself for the Attorney General job as Jeff Sessions time as Attorney General came to an end. He wrote this lengthy memo saying a president couldnt be prosecuted for Obstruction Of Justice because of something called the Unitarian Executivethyry that essentially said if the president did it, it was okay. They will make that same sort of argument here and see if they can get some traction on appeal. So it sounds like its not a forgone conclusion one way or the other but there could be hope for trump at the Supreme Court . You know, i wouldnt want to predict i mean reading the argument on its merits i would say absolutely not, this is just a nonstarter of an argument. Of course the Supreme Court has been predictable in some ways. For trumps lawyers, though, there is the prospect of possible delay here. And if they can position this motion to delay this case until after the republican primaries and nominating processes are over, then i think theyll believe theyre serving their client. Yeah, and delay is the number one unspoken tactic here. Speaking of which, the its been a minute since we talk about whats happening in the maralago case, but trumps lawyers would like to basically delay that case until after the 2024 election. Convenient. Theres been a lot of analysis in recent months about where judge cannons heart lies in terms of sympathies for trump and the defense hes mounting. Do you think theres a case to be made hes just too busy to have to be a participant in a federal Criminal Trial down in florida . No, thats absolutely not an argument. Everyone whos a criminal defendant has a job, they have a family, they might even have preplanned vacations. That doesnt mean you get a continuous from march to december. Maybe it means theres a realistic need for a couple of extra weeks or a month, but given this case and The Game Trump is playing here, trying to move the trial until after election, it would be a real abuse of justice for judge cannon to play along and forgive them. Well be watching to see what judge cannon does in florida. I always feel enlightened after we talk. Still to come this evening, what a christian cellPhone Company has to do with the radical School Boards in the state of texas. It is an incredible nbc news investigation and its just ahead. But first theres some good news out of the state of alabama that offers hope for a functioning democracy and a functioning congress. That is next. Stay with us. S next stay with us only the sleep number climate360 smart bed lets you both sleep up to 13 degrees cooler or warmer on either side, and at your ideal level of comfort. Your sleep number setting the allnew queen sleep number® c2 smart bed is only 880. Sleep next level. Shop now only at sleep number. Heres why you should switch from chrome to duckduckgo. Duckduckgo is a browser you download to your mobile and desktop devices. Unlike chrome, the Duckduckgo Browser has privacy builtin. It comes with a private alternative to google search, which doesn■t spy on your searches, and it blocks cookies and creepy ads. And theres no catch. Its free. We make money from ads, but they dont follow you around. Join the millions of people taking back their privacy by Downloading Duckduckgo On Mobile and desktop today. Goli, taste your goals. By downloading duckduckgo right now all business in the House Of Representatives has essentially ground to a screeching halt, which is not to say that the republican majority in the chamber was ever really the model of functioning governance. The gop only holds power because it won a razor thin majority in the 2022 election. Now, part of the reason there is that the party went into the Midterm Election benefitting from congressional maps that were redrawn by republican legislatures. And while we cannot go what might have happened in the alternate reality where congressional maps were not Jerry Mandered in republican statehouses, the very handy website Democracy Docket has identified six states where House Democrats lost at least one seat and their majority in the house because of those Jerry Mandered maps. Those states are florida, georgia, louisiana, ohio, utah, and alabama. Each of these republican led states put maps in play that gave their party a distinct advantage in the 2022 election. Alabamas congressional map had only one majority black district out of seven despite the fact black residents make up 27 of the states population. Today after not one but two Supreme Court rules and a Court Appointed special master, alabama has been forced to adopt a new congressional map with a second majority black district, and that map will be in effect for next years election, 2024, which will in turn give democrats a chance of picking up two of alabamas seven congressional seats. Now, this is major victory for voters in alabama, but it also offers a glimmer of hope for voters in other states where republican drawn maps are currently being contested in the courts. If those challenges are successful, democrats could pick up several seats in the 2024 election which could mean a democratic majority in congress, and maybe even a functioning House Of Representatives. At the very least, a more representative democracy. Now, while things may be looking up in alabama, over in texas, not so much. Our nbc News Reporters have been uncovering the transformation of schools in northern texas and the very Unusual Group that is behind all of that. Thats coming up next. Oming up. My entire life. With all the yoyo dieting i did in the past, i would lose 20, 30, 50 pounds just to gain them over and over again. In one year, ive lost five sizes, and im on my way to lose another three. With golo, i can do it. announcer change your life at golo. Com. Thats golo. Com. We are on a mission, and our mission is to live by the constitution and putting him first. They do need to think these things theyre teaching children at our schools today, they really need to think about the facts, right . Lets live by the facts. This is a this is a country that was founded on god. You can go back to the constitution, bill of rights, and it does they put him first. We are just trying to live by that. When we started this Program Last Year we introduced you to that guy, hes the one with the in god we trust sign behind him. And hes the leader of a conservative christian Phone Company that is literally taking the call to put god or more specifically an extreme farright interpretation of christianity, to put that back in schools. His company is contributing to a fringe conservative Movement Across north texas. Its goal is to peddle extreme antilgbt conservative christianity ideology to students. The company is trying to push a fringe, the belief that christians are called onto dominate the seven key mountains of American Life including business, media, government, and education. And so far this company has been pretty successful. Through its Political Action committee it has managed to if Filtrate North TexasSchool Boards and conskwptly north texas classrooms. Correspondent Antonia Hilton went to the classroom to talk with students who were there dealing with the consequences. Reporter in pockets of north texas students are worried about politics and religion creeping into their classrooms. Even though we live in a conservative area, most kids are fine with learning about different identities, about learning about people of color and lgbtq people. Its frustrating, strange, and hypocritical to see the in god we trust signs being put up everywhere while at the same time books are being removed from our library shelves. I think ive learned more about politics in the last year than in my entire life. More than you wanted to. More than i wanted to. And now that is all i can see in my school, all i can see is people pitted against each other. Reporter over the course of the last two years School Boards in the grapevine, colleyville, School Districts restricting instruction on race, gender and sexuality and removing access to hundreds of books. Many of those School Board Members are being backed by a christian cellPhone Company, Patriot Mobile. Patriot mobile is americas only Christian Conservative wireless provider. Reporter headquartered in grapevine they promised to dpoinate some of their profits and run a Political Action committee. One of their spearual advisers is the father of gop senator ted cruz. He livestreams bible study session from their offices encouraging christians to run for local school board seats. If the righteous are not running for office, if the righteous are not even voting, then whats left . The Wicked Electing The wicked. Reporter christian leaders have found success by focusing on school politics. One evangelist and Business Partner recently claimed christians played a secret role in the elections of the neighboring town of south lake. South lake, texas, one people went in flooded and took over the School Boards, took over the city council, the mayors office. Boom, you know who it was . Christians did it. The media doesnt know it because we never said it was a church initiative. We called it a community initiative. Reporter in total the packed Patriot Mobile action spent more than 600,000 supporting at least 14 Texas School Board candidates in the last two years, according to Campaign Finance reports. Races that only a few years ago would have been pop mom and pop operations run with only a few thousand dollars. Patriot mobile hired a pair of gop consulting firms that have worked on campaigns for ted cruz and Florida Governor ron desantis bringing sophisticated National Strategies to local school politics. Do you believe that having biological males compete in womens Sports Reporter north texas representative represents many in the cellar district. Hes also a former pastor and runs a church based nonprofit that works to get Christian Conservatives elected in communities. He led a prayer and Worship Service in the texas capitol. He shared some of the images on social media. Theres nothing more important we could be doing than this right here, worshipping and praying in the middle of the capitol. Reporter throughout the session he talked about how his faith informed his politics. He and other conservatives voted to constrict performances and hire Mental Health counselors in public schools. He spoke in gpevine. Do you believe in the fundamental Separation Of Church And State . I believe that church and state in constitution, what was written about it was written to keep the state out of church not the keep the church out of the state. That belief has pushed some teachers out of Public Education for good. Amanda guthrie was an Award WinningWorld History teacher in grapevine before she quit halfway through last school year. I think they want to defund Public Education, Create A Essentially SegeratedSchool System and whether that be segregated by race or religion is unclear right now. I believe they want complete control over curriculums, and they ultimately want to create an uninformed and i hate the term brainwashed, but manipulated voter base. Reporter our analysis of District Data shows she was more than 160 staffers who resigned from her district by the end of the last school year. They say it was teachers like you who were doing the brainwashing and the indoctrinating. Is there any truth to that . Were there teachers when you were there pushing their political ideologies, talking about gender and sex in the classroom . Absolutely not. We were trying to prepare our students of course for College Success but more pressingly for the ap exam at the end of the year, so i never discussed things that were outside of the realm of those standards, and i know that my coworkers didnt either. Reporter the grapevine, colleyville and Cool District Leaders all declined an interview. But grapevine told in an email we look at how we can serve our employees. And south lake noted we have policies and processes that respect parental rights and appropriately review curriculum. And keller isd saying we believe Mutual Respect and dignity build unity. In a time where the climate is so hostile and ever changing on when pefs the next policy going to come, what have they just done now, its nice to be able to find solace in just friends you can talk to. I think the Student Communities that have sprung up make me optimistic because ive seen so many students stepping up as leaders and forming a community where people feel safe. This is not just happening in texas. This is a national movement. Antonia hilton along with nbc news Senior Investigative reporter has spent years investigating the infiltration of farright christian ideology into classrooms in texas and across america, and they join me coming up next. Stay with us. D they join me coming up next stay with us temperature benefits. The allnew queen sleep number® c2 smart bed is only 880. Sleep next level. Shop now only at sleep number. I think we all just feel exhausted. We tried so hard last year to keep our teachers who we know are so passionate about teaching to have a safe environment in our schools and no one will listen. That is alicia, shes a High School Senior in the Grapevine Colleyville School District in the dallasfort worth area and rather than focusing on things most High School Seniors are worried about like making honor roll or figuring out what to pack for college shes one of several north texas students worried about their classrooms becoming battlegrounds for rightwing politics. Nbc spoke to her and her clas mauts about the far right Policy Change recently hoilsed on schools across texas. Senior Investigative Reporter for nbc news, they join me now and cohost of the pea body Award WinningPodcast South Lake which covers how racial history is taught to kids in suburban classrooms and how the right has responded to it. Their new Podcast Grapevine continues that reporting on the religion far right targeting north Texas Public Schools. You guys are doing incredible essential reporting. Im so grateful for the reporting period and join me on set to talk about this. Weve talked about Patriot Mobile on this program before. Antonia, if you could talk to me about a bit about the sort of unlikely prim of a rightwing Phone Company and School Boards and the way in which theres, you know, the handshake between those two things and effect on teachers and students in texas. Well, look, first i think for anyone concerned about why a cellPhone Company is confused in this i think your explanation will help. Thats the School Boards, the area of education, and then theres the area of business. Its one of the pillars people who believe in this movement are called to take control of these spaces. It makes sense for them to do it in the Business Sphere as well. And then what were seeing right now is that the folks involved in this movement, theyre getting a signal all the way from our national politics, from the changing shape of our Supreme Court and getting the sense they can change things locally now, they can seize this moment. And so with a couple hundred thousand dollars, which is a lot of money locally but not a lot of money nationally, theyre able to make big, big seismic shifts very quickly in local communities and completely change students education and teachers educational experiences and careers. And so thats what were seeing. Amanda guthrie who you just met in that story, right, this is the practical implication for her. Shes in the middle of teaching a lesson about james town, the colony of virginia, and she gets to a section of a passage that shes taught before that she always felt great about, and she tells me that she realizes that the passage describes slavery as foundational to the colony and to founding of the united states. And because of laws passed and because of the new nature of her school board she realizes i cant finish reading this and she accidently says it out loud in front of her students. Wow, the selfcensorship these teachers have go under under the threat of punishment and expulsion its so similar to whats happening in for example states like florida. Whats interesting here is when you talk about the Return On Investment A company like Patriot Mobile gets. For a couple hundred thousand dollars you can reform, if you will, the way Texas Public School students learn. In the process of doing this, mike, theyre also bringing in outside consultants that are sort of familiar in national politics. Is that right . We should mention we made many efforts to get Patriot Mobile to interview with us, and i went to cpac to try to talk with that is great work. They declined, so we dont have their perspective what their motivation is and why theyre doing this, but we can see they do have a huge rate and return on investment by investing in School Board Races for 50,000 into a school race where you normally would spend 5,000, you have the power to really effect change. One of the religious scholars i spoke to said when you think about this decades long effort to really since the 1960s put prayer back in school, put god back in school and now the iteration of that is put god back in school and push lgbtq out of school, if youre looking to effect that change and if you believe its a Spiritual Battle For The Heart And Soul of your country, what better place to fight it than in a classroom, than a local school board . And, you know, our new podcast really drove beyond that political story and into the live of teachers and kids who are dealing with this. And so at the center of this story we tell over the course of six episodes, you hear from a teacher who has been accused by a mother in the midst of this Political Climate of convincing a transgender student to become trans. Its something weve heard from politicians like ron desantis teachers are trying to do this. In this district a mom made that allegation against a teacher, and in a School District where these folks have taken control, you can see how this teachers life was turned upside down, how the harassment hit her, how she was made to take books off her off her shelves. And it completely changed how she teaches kids. Theres the departure of these teachers from the system writ large which you talk about in this piece here. Theres the way in which they have to selfcensor and change lesson plans. And they do everything to push back but there is such a limitation to what they can accomplish when they run up against the forces of government. Whats happening in north texas and what do these students tell you about the changes theyre living through . The word i keep hearing is exhausted and defeated from students right now. They tried in 2022 in this last cycle to put up a fight. Some of them were going doortodoor and talking to parents neighbors theyve known for years and trying to explain this is what happened to our school, i appreciate if you did x, y, z, and now they see they have the board majority thats going to be another few years and theyre feeling like thats it, there goes my high school experience, my high school culture, and so what im hearing from this group of kids is that you know theyve lost some faith in adults, really, that the adults around them who they thought should shield them from politics and controversy should allow them to be kids for a little while longer, that theyve messed up their job a bit and theyre at the front lines and getting in front of microphones and podiums at School Board Meetings and begging people to let them have a say in their own education. And let them actually learn what happened in history and american society. Great work, you guys, indispensable the work youre doing. The first two episodes thaf their Podcast Series dropped yesterday. You can find it by scanning the qr code on your screen right now. Thats our show for tonight. Way too early with Jonathan Lemire is coming up next. The person who knew there was a handful of people in which he was a leader who knew what donald trump had planned. Now, somebody needs to ask jim jordan why didnt you rrt to